Ten US troops killed in fierce Iraq fighting

8.25am - By ANDREW MARSHALL

BAGHDAD - Heavy fighting in Iraq over the weekend killed 10 US troops, including five Marines in a day of bloody clashes near the Syrian border, the US military said on Sunday.

The deaths brought to 503 the number of American soldiers killed in action in Iraq since the start of the US-led war in March last year to oust Saddam Hussein.

This month's toll of 104 is higher than the number killed in action in the three-week war that toppled Saddam.

Spain, whose forces have battled Shi'ite rebels in parts of southern Iraq this month, said it would bring home its troops as soon as possible, in another blow to the US-led coalition.

The heaviest fighting at the weekend was in Qusayba on the Syrian border, where five Marines and 25 to 30 guerrillas were killed in a day of clashes on Saturday, the military said.

"A day-long series of firefights began...when a Marine patrol reported they were under fire by enemy forces wielding machineguns and rocket-propelled grenades," the 1st Marine Division said in a statement.

"Marines continued to bring co-ordinated fire against the enemy force of approximately 120 to 150 fighters throughout the day and into the night. Enemy casualties are estimated to be 25 to 30 dead and an unknown number of wounded."

The Marines said women and children had surrounded guerrilla mortar positions during the fighting, apparently as human shields. "It is unknown whether or not they were in those positions on their own free will," the statement said.

A Marine offensive in western Iraq this month has sparked the bloodiest fighting since the fall of Saddam, particularly in the Sunni bastion of Falluja, 50km west of Baghdad.

US-led forces have found themselves simultaneously battling a Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq, led by rebel cleric Moqtada al-Sadr.

Three US soldiers were killed in the southern Shi'ite town of Diwaniya on Saturday in a convoy ambush, the military said.

Residents said seven Iraqis were killed and six wounded in the clashes, and angrily pointed to blackened shops and bullet-pocked walls. Burned-out cars and two charred military vehicles littered the streets.

Dutch troops traded fire with Iraqis on Saturday near the Shi'ite town of Samawa where they and Japanese forces are based. The Dutch military said one Iraqi had been wounded.

The US military said a US soldier was killed on Saturday by a bomb in Baghdad and another was killed in western Iraq.

Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said he had given Defence Minister Jose Bono the "order to do what is necessary for the Spanish troops in Iraq to come home in the shortest time and in the greatest safety possible".

Zapatero, who was speaking on television, had already pledged before his election to withdraw Spain's 1300 troops.

The number of civilians killed in this month's offensive by US forces, and the ferocity of the fighting, has sparked outrage among many Iraqis and led to a spate of kidnappings of foreign civilians from more than a dozen countries.

Iraq's US Governor Paul Bremer said in a speech Shi'ite rebels and Sunni guerrillas who "want to shoot their way to power" would be stopped by US-led forces.

However, he added: "They will be dealt with in a manner that reduces the loss of innocent blood to the minimum possible."

Talks are going on to bolster a shaky truce in Falluja and to prevent violence in Najaf, a holy city to Iraq's Shi'ite majority, where Sadr is holed up and protected by his militia.

Iraqis have warned that if US troops enter Najaf it would spark fury across the country and further inflame violence.

Sadr's spokesman Qays al-Khazali told a news conference the cleric's Mehdi Army militia would halt military operations in and around Najaf during commemorations on Monday and Tuesday for the anniversary of the Prophet Mohammad's death.

However, Khazali also struck a defiant note. "The Americans are escalating the situation and the Mehdi Army is ready," he said.

About 2500 US troops have been poised on the outskirts of Najaf for several days, with orders to kill or capture Sadr.

US officials demand that the cleric disarm his Mehdi Army and turn himself in to stand trial in an Iraqi court for the murder last year of a moderate Shi'ite cleric in Najaf.

Falluja, a bastion of Sunni guerrillas, enjoyed a second day of calm, but five civilians were killed overnight as they fled US shelling in the nearby town of Karma, witnesses said.

The Americans were demanding Falluja rebels lay down their guns before US Marines lift a siege of the city of 300,000, said mediator Hajem al-Al-Hassani of the Iraqi Islamic Party.

"A solution is expected to take time," he said.

US Marines launched a crackdown in Falluja after the killing and public mutilation of four American private security guards ambushed on March 31.

Guerrillas have seized about 50 foreigners this month. Most have been freed, but the captors of four Italians killed one and threatened to kill the rest unless Italian troops leave Iraq.

A US soldier and contractor have also been abducted and paraded in footage shown on Arab satellite networks.

The climate of insecurity has prompted the US military to indefinitely close highways leading north, west and south of Baghdad in a new blow to reconstruction and economic life.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq